The SHUTTLE February 2005 The Next NASFA Meeting is 19 February 2005 at the Regular Time and Location { { output also included a few anthologies and a double-handful of Oyez, Oyez short fiction. Chalker earned many honors during his career. In addition The next NASFA meeting will be 19 February 2005 at to being nominated for the Hugo Award 4 times, he won a the regular time and location. Dedalus Award, a Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of The February program is undetermined at press time. Books, a Skylark Award, a Hamilton-Brackett Memorial The February after-the-meeting meeting will be at Ray Award, and a Readercon award. Chalker was a guest at many Pietruszka and Nancy CucciÕs house. science fiction conventions, including being GoH at Con Stellation XVI: Eridanus in 1997. He was also honored by his peers who elected him SFWA Treasurer three times. Per <www.evawhitley.net> a memorial service will be Jack L. Chalker, RIP held Monday 21 February 7Ð9P at the Marzullo Funeral Chapel, 6009 Harford Road, Baltimore MD 21214 (410-254- Science fiction fan and author Jack L. Chalker died late in 5201). Hotel rooms at special rates (reference ÒChalker Fu- the morning of 11 February 2005. He had been in a series of neralÓ) are available at the Best Western Hotel and Conference hospitals and rehabilitation facilities since early December, Center, 5625 OÕDonnell Street, Baltimore MD. originally being admitted with congestive heart failure which He is survived by his wife Eva Whitley and two sons, eventually progressed to multiple organ failure. He was in the David Whitley Chalker and Steven Lloyd Chalker. Condo- ICU at Bon Secours in Baltimore MD at the time of his death. lences can be sent to The Mirage Press Ltd., P. O. Box 1689, He was 60 years old. Westminter MD 21158; or posted online at <www2. Mr. Chalker was born 17 December 1944 in Baltimore. caringbridge.org/md/jacklchalker>. In lieu of flowers, dona- His early career, both academic and professional, was quite tions are being accepted at the Sierra Club, Save the Bay/ varied. He published the first (A Jungle of Stars) of over 60 Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Baltimore Science Fiction novels in 1976 and had been full time writer since 1978. His Society, and the SFWA Emergency Medical Fund. Inside this issueÉ NASFA Calendar............................................................2 Razzie Nominations........................................................4 Minutes of the January Meeting .....................................2 Awards Roundup ............................................................4 Book Review, Warp Speed .............................................3 No Need for Doctor Drake Chapter 5 .............................8 Movie Review, The Phantom of the Opera ....................3 Letters of Comment ........................................................9 Deadline for the March 2005 issue of The NASFA Shuttle is Friday, 4 March 2005. th Our 25 Year of1 Publication! 22 Earth Day. NASFA Calendar 24 Passover. 26 BD: Chloie Airoldi. FEBRUARY 27 Administrative ProfessionalÕs Day. 01 National Freedom Day. 29 Arbor Day. 02 Groundhog Day. 29Ð01 PersaCon IIKV Ñ Madison AL. 08 BD: Lin Cochran. 30 BD: Mark Maxwell. 09 BD: Jack Lundy. 09 Ash Wednesday. MAY 10 BD: Marcia Illingworth. 01 BD: Russell McNutt. 11 BD: Jeanna Woosley. 03 BD: Martha Knowles. 11Ð13 Furry Weekend Atlanta Ñ Atlanta GA. 08 MothersÕ Day. 12 BD: Abraham Lincoln. 14 BD: Debbie Hughes. 14 St. ValentineÕs Day. 16 BD: Linda Bolgeo. 17 BD: Nancy A. Cucci. 19 BD: David O. Miller. 19* NASFA Meeting Ñ 6P Business, 7P Program, at 20 BD: Mike Glicksohn. BookMark. Program: TBD. ATMM: Nancy Cucci 20Ð22 Mobicon 8 Ñ Mobile AL. and Ray PietruszkaÕs house. 21* NASFA Meeting Ñ 6P Business, 7P Program, at 19Ð20 South Carolina Book Festival Ñ Columbia SC. BookMark. Program: TBD. ATMM: TBD. 21 PresidentÕs Day. 21 Armed Forces Day. 22 BD: George Washington. 23 Victoria Day (Canada). 25Ð27 SheVaCon 13 Ñ Roanoke VA. 27 BD: Kathy Paulk. 27Ð29 Rocket City FurMeet Ñ Huntsville AL. MARCH 27Ð29 Oasis 18 Ñ Orlando FL. 02 BD: Ronnie Lajoie. 30 Memorial Day. 04Ð06 CoastCon XXIII Ñ Biloxi MS. OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO 04Ð06 Concave 26 Ñ Horse Cave KY. 08 BD: Bill Payne. The North Alabama Science Fiction Association meets on 08 International WomenÕs Day. the third Saturday of each month. (Unless there is a large 09 BD: Tracey Kennedy. nearby convention being held that weekend Ñ in which case 10 BD: Kerry Gilley. we often move the meeting to the second or fourth weekend.) 11Ð13 StellarCon 29 Ñ Greensboro NC. The regular meeting location is the upstairs meeting room at 13 BD: Anita Eisenberg. BookMark on South Memorial Parkway. The Executive 15 BD: Carlo DeShouten. Committee meeting (if scheduled) is at 5P. The business 16Ð20 Virginia Festival of the Book Ñ Charlottesville VA. meeting is at 6P. The program is at 7P. Anyone is welcome to 16Ð20 International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts attend any of the meetings. There is usually an after-the- Ñ Fort Lauderdale FL. meeting meeting with directions available at the program. 17 St. PatrickÕs Day. 17 BD: JoAnn Parsons. 17Ð20 Fantasm Ñ Atlanta GA. 19* NASFA Meeting Ñ 6P Business, 7P Program, at January Minutes BookMark. Program: TBD. ATMM: TBD. by Steve Sloan, newbie Secretary 20 First Say of Spring. 20 Palm Sunday. The January meeting of the North Alabama Science Fic- 22 BD: Jayson Woosley. tion Association was called to order on Saturday, January 15, 25 BD: Maurine Dorris. 2005 in the BookMark upstairs meeting room at 6:24P by 25 Good Friday. President Mary Ortwerth and a large population of small, 26Ð27 MomoCON Ñ Atlanta GA. robotic Alpha Males. 27 Easter. OLD BUSINESS Very little. APRIL NEW BUSINESS 01 April FoolÕs Day. We had a visit by two representatives of FrolicCon, an 01Ð03 MidSouthCon 23 Ñ Memphis TN. upcoming Atlanta convention scheduled for 2006. They dis- 01Ð03 Middle Tennessee Anime Convention Ñ Nashville cussed renting our art show equipment. The club talked about TN. pricing, and the best way to set up the display stands in a given 03 Daylight Saving Time begins. amount of floor space. 07 BD: Mary Ortwerth. Randy saw and liked Elektra. 08Ð10 Xanadu VIII/DeepSouthCon 43 Ñ Nashville TN. New Treasurer Sam Smith survived a mass payment of 15 Income Tax Day. club dues. 15 BD: ÒUncle TimmyÓ Bolgeo. Karen brought several ÒAlpha MaleÓ robot model kits, 16* NASFA Meeting Ñ 6P Business, 7P Program, at which we spent a lot of time assembling. There was a signifi- BookMark. Program: TBD. ATMM: TBD. cant amount of tangoing, gun play, and Òbad touchingÓ Ñ and 21 BD: Randy B. Cleary. we also posed the action figures. 21Ð24 AggieCon 36 Ñ College Station TX. Mia brought homemade chocolate chip cookies, which we 2 all enjoyed, as well as vast quantities of Baby Ruths, 100 Grand Smith, Heinlein, and James Blish all throughout the book Ñ all bars, and Tootsie Rolls. This was fortunate, because her good, classic stuff (only with updated science). Chapter 1 is replacement Candy Bringer ÒLaddieÓ was out to sea. especially Heinleinesque. We go from a karate tournament to CONVENTION BUSINESS ranting about doctors to Einsteinian tensors all in just a few The books are still open on the previous con, pages. Later on the main character and his cohorts are not only Con Stellation: Delphinus, but only for minor matters. ItÕs all practicing the martial arts, they are improving them, very effectively all over but the shouting. The people in charge of much like your typical Heinleinian superman. Lepus werenÕt available to report on developments for the next IÕm a sucker for a good setup, and this book has one of the Con Stellation. best IÕve seen in quite a while. The main characters are in a The meeting adjourned at 6:53P. There was no official bind, and the noose just keeps tightening, and suddenly Bang! After-the-Meeting Meeting, but there were several smaller The world is going to end in 20 minutes unless they Do gatherings. Something and Pull A Rabbit Out Of The Hat. In fact, once the action gets going thatÕs exactly what the main character says they are going to do! The last half of chapter 18 and all of Chapter 19 are my favorites because of this. (I have, in fact, Warp Speed read just those two chapters over and over again several times.) a Book Review Unfortunately, and I think itÕs simply because this is a new by Samuel A. Smith, Free, Free I Tell You! authorÕs first book, IÕve got a number of silly nit-picky things about it: The bad guys are underdeveloped. Except for one bad Warp Speed, by Travis S. Taylor, Baen, hardback, December guy with an improbable name, we never actually meet any of 2004, ISBN 0743488628, 288pp, $22.00 them (and the dialog in the big fight scene with this guy was particularly painful). There are a couple of dropped plot LetÕs get this over with. Buy this book. Read it. Go. Go threads, which I assume are just leftovers from earlier drafts. Now! The main characterÕs quirks appear and disappear inconsis- Ok, now that thatÕs overÉ tently, sometimes appearing almost as if an afterthought. The IÕve always heard, when writing, that you should Òwrite last few chapters of the book are more or less a scientistÕs what you know.Ó This is Travis TaylorÕs first book and he has fantasy about all the neat things he could do if... and it all moves done so in spades. The ÒAbout the AuthorÓ blurb in the back of too quickly and is underdeveloped. Finally, the science and the book could have been written about the bookÕs main engineering, especially after Chapter 18, degenerate into what character.